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Environmental impact of using fossil fuels
Steam engines and the industrial revolution
The Prehistory of the Steam Engine
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Using steaming water to generate motorized movement has its history back from 2,000 years ago. The steam engine is a mechanism that executes motorized exertions by means of heat as its operating fluids. In common procedure, steam engines are the incorporated steam deposits like the transportable engines and railway steam engines, or could denote a mechanism single-handedly, as in stationary and beam steam engines [Benford, et. al, 2005]. Particular mechanisms like steam pile drivers and hammers are reliant on steams provided by disconnected boilers. The steam engine is a peripheral ignition mechanism, wherein the operating fluids are disconnected from the ignition results. Non-combustion heat resources like nuclear and solar powers or geothermal power could be utilized. Water resorts to vapour in a reservoir and arrive at high pressures. When developed through turbines or pistons, automatic exertion is completed. The condensed-pressure condensation is then compressed, and reverse-pumped to a boiler. Several convenient steam engines remove low-pressure steams rather than compressing it for recycles. The history of steam engines goes back so far as the 1st century A.D. - the aeolipile - the first documented basic steam mechanism by Hero of Alexandria (Greek mathematician) and during the ensuing centuries, only some steam mechanisms recognized were fundamentally investigational mechanisms made to exhibit steam properties [Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark, 2008]. An undeveloped steam turbine apparatus was illustrated in 1551 by Taqi al-Din and Giovanni Branca in 1629. In 1679, Denis Papin invented the digester and piston in 1690 - both using steam engines. In 1698, Thomas Savery invented a water-pumped steam engine. Howeve... ... middle of paper ... ... the world's manufacturing is still reliant on steam powers. Contemporary concerns with reference to pollution and fuel sources have prompted a transformed awareness in steam as a constituent of cogeneration procedures and as a most important transporter - this is turning out to be acknowledged as Advanced Steam progress. Works Cited Benford, G., Brazier, P., Butler, A., Schweitzer, D. (2005) Steam Engine Time. PDF at http://efanzines.com/SFC/SteamEngineTime/SET04-1.pdf Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark (2008) Oscillating Steam Engine. Dresden, Germany. PDF at http://files.asme.org/asmeorg/Communities/History/Landmarks/21635.pdf The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (1992) Steam Engine Collection. International Mechanical Engineering Heritage Collection. Retrieved 2012 at http://files.asme.org/ASMEORG/Communities/History/Landmarks/5605.pdf
In 1763 John Anderson asked Watt to repair one of his steam engines which was an early version of a Newcome steam engine. This engine wasted a lot of time and fuel so it was economically inefficient. The reasons for the inefficiency was the cylinder had to be heated when steam was admitted and then slowly cooled down again to condense the steam. This process wasted a lot of time, energy, and steam.
This new energy could then be used to power trains, ships, and even factories. Although it would later be improved to become more efficient, the steam engine was instrumental in the rapid expansion of the British Empire across the
New technology is arriving every day. The greatest invention during this time was the steam engine. The creation of the steam engine was credited to James Watt. There had been other steam engines before James Watt’s, but none of them were efficient. Watt’s engine was the first efficient engine that could be used in a factory.
The time period a person lives in greatly impacts his actions, thoughts and beliefs. The second Industrial Revolution signifies a time of change, education and reform. The second Industrial Revolution can be dated between 1870 and 1914. When industries emerge and new opportunities are open, mass immigration can be found. The industrial revolution provokes new inventions, factories, transportation, communication, politics, women’s rights and urban life. In the early 1900s, there was segregation and discrimination between races. In addition, during the years between 1914 and 1918, World War One erupted. Between 1929 and 1933, the Great Depression took place and lastly between 1941 and 1945- World War Two occurred.
The Industrial Revolution saw the arrival of steam engines which started transport such as steam trains. The trains were used a lot for many different purposes like carrying goods and transporting people. This meant that they had to be safe to operate. Before the arrival of air brakes, there was a manual operation to brake where a brakeman would have to apply a hand brake to stop a moving train. The reasons for the demand of the air brake were economical and safer. Economical because there was no need for brake men. They were safer because of the easy application instead of gears, levers and brake fluid. George Westinghouse made t...
The technology on the Titanic consisted of engines powered by steam, electrical systems, and wireless systems. In the ship there were two huge triple expansion engines and a Parson’s low steam pressure turbine. The engines were powered by steam that made by the 20 boilers in the Titanic. The low pressure turbine would be powered by steam and then the turbine’s propellers would drive the centre propeller of the titanic and create electricity for the ship to use. While the low pressure turbine powered the centre propeller, the triple expansion engines was used to drive the port and starboard wing propellers. However the triple expansion would re-use steam that would be wasted as exhaust and therefore using all of the energy from the steam. The titanic also had the most electrical systems ever seen in a ship. Such electricity systems would be elevators and electric gym equipment. The Titanic even had the
Rosen, William. The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention. New York: Random House, 2010. Print.
The Steam Engine “In the never-ending search for energy sources, the invention of the steam engine changed the face of the earth.” (Siegel, Preface) The steam engine was the principal power source during the British Industrial Revolution in the 18th century. The steam engine opened a whole new world for everyone. The steam engine maximizes production, efficiency, reliability, minimizes time, the amount of labor, and the usage of animals.
After the condensation process is finished and the steam reverts back to water, it is pumped into the reactor again, thus completing the process of producing nuclear-based power. Next, hydro-electricity is electricity produced by moving water, flowing past a turbine connected to a generator (“Hydropower”). According to Nationalgeographic.com, a typical hydro-plant is a system with three parts: an electric plant where electricity is produced, a dam that can be opened or closed to control water flow, and a reservoir where water can be stored.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Transportation became a huge contributor to the industries of the 1800’s and 1900’s. “Steam boat experiments as early as 1780s both in England and America, but the need was greater in America.’ The steamboat uses a water and and a boiler that is powered by a fuel, which can be wood, coal, or other combustible entity. “The first successful steamboat may have been built by French engineer and inventor Claude-François-Dorothée, in 1783.” As years went by, engineers such as John Fitch and Robert Fulton began building and deploying steamships, with American inventor Fitch in the Mississippi, and English engineer Fulton on the Hudson River of New York. With the steamboat being the first mechanically powered vessel known to humans, it provided a faster new forme of transportation for traders in Americas and Europe. The steam-powered boats could travel at the astonishing speed of up to five miles per hour.
The new invention of steam power was one of the great motives for the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, steam was used to power many of the machines, thus with the invention of steam power, the Industrial Revolution was powered onwards. The duo of inventors, Thomas Savery and Thomas Newcomen were both based in Britain, thus, this was the place where the inventions were first used giving Britain the time advantage over other countries.
The invention of internal combustion engines in the early 19th century has led to the discovery of utilisation of cheap energy that is petroleum and this enabled the world to develop and progress into the modern world today. Humans were able to accomplish more work done with little manual labour, using internal combustion engines powered by fossil fuels. Internal combustion engine are mechanical power devices that convert heat energy to mechanical energy with the combustion process taking place in a system boundary (Rolle, 2005). Among the internal combustion engine invented in the 19th century were the Otto engine, Diesel engine and gas turbine engine. Gas turbine engine is one of the popular engines used today due to its high torque per weight ratio relative to other types of internal combustion engines. As explained by Cengel and Boles (2011), the gas turbine engine works on a 6 stages process, namely air intake, compression, fuel injection, combustion, expansion and exhaust (refer to Figure 1 in Appendix 1).
Steam turbine is most flexible mechanical machines and it can be used to drive even generators. Steam turbine can work at high temperatures. Turbine casing is essentially a pressure vessel which endures the high pressure of steam and supports all the internal components. Important components of steam turbine casings are shells, head, flange, bolts and inlet section. To endure high pressure, thick cylinder walls are essential but, to minimize thermal stress, there should not be rapid change in thickness nor asymmetrical Sections. The casing are either cast, fabricated depending upon operating conditions. The casing material can be iron, carbon steel, carbon moly steel, or chrome moly steel [1]. Since the stream turbine casing is subjected to very high temperature and pressure, casing will undergo fatigue damage. Fatigue is the phenomenon which affects mostly to moving or rotating parts especially in automobiles, reactors etc.
A steam turbine's two main parts are the cylinder and the rotor. As the steam passes through the fixed blades or nozzles it expands and its velocity increases. The high-velocity jet of steam strikes the first set of moving blades. The kinetic energy of the steam changes into mechanical energy, causing the shaft to rotate. The steam then enters the next set of fixed blades and strikes the next row of moving blades. As the steam flows through the turbine, its pressure and temperature decreases, while its volume increases. The decrease in pressure and temperature occurs as the steam transmits energy to the shaft and performs work. After passing through the last turbine stage, the steam exhausts into the condenser or process steam system. The kinetic energy of the steam changes into mechanical erringly through the impact (impulse) or reaction of the steam against the blades.
For the generation of electricity, hot water, at temperatures ranging from about 700 degrees F, is brought from the underground reservoir to the surface through production wells, and is flashed to steam in special vessels by release of pressure. The steam is separated from the liquid and fed to a turbine engine, which turns a generator. In turn, the generator produces electricity. Spent geothermal fluid is injected back into peripheral parts of the reservoir to help maintain reservoir pressure. If the reservoir is to be used for direct-heat application, the geothermal water is usually fed to a heat exchanger before being injected back into the earth. Heated domestic water from the output side of the heat exchanger is used for home heating, greenhouse heating, vegetable drying and a wide variety of other uses.